171

Madras Agric. J. 91 (1-3) : 171-173 January-March 2004 Research Notes

Bhendi (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) seed storability as influenced by the soil type and season A. VIJAYAKUMAR Horticultural College and Research Institute, Periyakulam - 625 604 Tamil Nadu An improved diet in India is supposed to have 300g of vegetables per day per capita but the average per capita consumption is less i.e. only 120g. The main reason attributed is non-availability of adequate quantity of quality seeds to produce adequate vegetables. It has been emphatically shown that 10-20 per cent commercial yield increase could be achieved through the usage of good quality seeds. However, production of quality seed is determined by variety of edaphic and environmental conditions. Hence, selection of suitable soil types with favourable season for seed production becomes essential for the production of quality seeds. Seeds for the present study were obtain from a pot culture experiment carried out with three soils viz. black, sandy loam and red soils in three seasons viz. February-March, June-July and September-October in 2001. The seeds were cleaned, dried and graded and then subjected to the accelerated ageing test (Delouche and Baskin, 1973). For accelerated ageing, seeds were packed in small perforated paper pocket and arranged loosely inside a desiccator maintaining 99 per cent RH and closed tightly with the lid. Then the desiccator with seed pockets was kept inside a B.O.D. incubator maintaining 40oC. Seed pockets were rearranged every day at a fixed time to facilitate uniform ageing. After 7 days of ageing, the seeds were subjected to the following seed quality attributes viz. germination (Anon, 1999), seedling measurements (root and shoot lengths), dry matter production and vigour index (Abdul-Baki and Anderson, 1973). The season of production and soil exerted profound influence on ageing of the resultant seeds. The resultant seeds obtained from black

soil raised during June-July and February-March season recorded higher germination of 70 and 69 per cent respectively followed by red soil which recorded 68 and 66 per cent germination during June-July and February-March respectively. The resultant seeds from the plants from sandy loam and grown during September-October season registered poor germination (i.e. below the minimum certification standard). The seedling measurements also showed the similar trend (Table 1). The dry matter production and vigour index were the highest for the resultant seed obtain from the plants from black (298 mg and 1546) and red (281 mg and 1475) soils raised during June-July season, while the dry matter and vigour was the lowest for the resultant seeds obtained from the plants raised during Sep-Oct in sandy loam soil (153 mg and 776) (Table 1). The differences in nutrient status, cation exchange capacity and pH of the soils (Table 2) might be the reasons for the better uptake and accumulation of nutrients resulted in the higher seed quality maintenance. In June-July season, the profuse vegetative growth and better floral, fruit and seed development with seasonal rains and free from the ill effects of pest and diseases paved way for high resultant seed quality maintenance. The crop raised during September-October experienced cool night and short photoperiod which resulted in poor fruit and seed development. The results are in agreement with the findings of Thompson and Kelly (1983) and Markose and Peter (1990). The resultant seeds of the crop raised in black soil grown in June-July season after ageing recorded higher germination, seedling measurements, dry matter production and vigour

172

Table 1. Influence of soil types and seasons on resultant bhendi seed quality after accelerated ageing Particulars

Red

Jun-Jul Sep-Oct Feb-Mar

Black

Jun-Jul

Feb-Mar Sandy Jun-Jul loam Sep-Oct

Soil

Dry matter production (g/10 seedlings)

Vigour index (cm)

68.0 (50.77) 58.0 (49.61) 66.0 (43.57)

8.80

12.90

281

1475

7.00

10.20

213

1000

8.40

12.10

268

1352

9.00

13.10

298

1546

7.40

11.00

208

1103

8.70

12.50

245

1257

8.50

12.20

245

1257

6.20

9.80

153

776

8.20

11.90

218

1166

Soil

Season

SxS

Soil

Season

SxS

Soil

Season

SxS

Soil

Season

SxS

Soil

Season

SxS

2.1

2.1

NS

0.24

0.24

NS

0.22

0.22

NS

8.6

8.6

NS

31.2

31.2

NS

Red

Black

Red

Black

Red

Black

Black

Black

11.73

12.20

254.0

258.7

Sandy loam 205.3

Red

8.37

Sandy loam 11.30

Red

8.07

Sandy loam 7.63

1275

1370

Sandy loam 106

JunJul 8.77

SepOct 6.87

FebMar 8.43

JunJul 12.73

SepOct 10.33

FebMar 12.17

JunJul 274.7

SepOct 191.3

FebMar 252.0

JunJul 1426

SepOct 960

FebMar 132

Sandy loam 64.0 66.3 55.4 (47.98) (54.53) (53.38) JunSepFebJul Oct Mar 66.3 55.2 58.0 (54.59) (54.17) (48.13)

A. Vijayakumar

Season

Shoot length (cm)

60.8 (56.17) 47.5 (54.35) 58.0 (49.61)

Feb-Mar

Mean

Root length (cm)

70.0 (56.81) 60.0 (55.56) 69.0 (51.21)

Sep-Oct

CD (P=0.05)

Germination (%)

Bhendi (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) seed storability as influenced by the soil type and season

173

Table 2. Soil characters of bhendi cropped area Nutrient status (kg acre-1)

Particulars

Black Red Sandy loam

Cation exchange capacity

N

P

K

70.6 67.15 57.3

14.03 14.39 13.8

131.89 128.40 104.50

which reflected finally on the higher storage potential of the above seeds. The findings are in conformity with the results of Santhaceline Mary (1991) in bhendi, lab-lab and onion. The accelerated ageing test revealed that growing the bhendi seed crop in black or red soil during June-July is the suitable soil and season for maintaining the resultant seed quality. References Abdul-Baki, A.A. and Anderson, J.D. (1973). Relationship between decarboxylation glutamic acid and vigour in soybean seeds. Crop Sci. 13: 227-232. Anonymous (1999). International rules for seed testing. Seed Sci. & Technol. 27: Supplement, 1-333.

25.8 20.5 16.7

Delouche, J.C. and Baskin, C.C. (1973). Accelerated ageing techniques for predicting the relative storability of seed lots. Seed Sci. & Technol. 1: 427-452. Markose, L. and Peter, K.V. (1990). Research on vegetables and tuber crops. Okra Technical Bulletin, 16: 38-52, KAU, Mannuethy. Santhaceline Mary, D. (1991). Studies on seed senescence in certain Horticultural Crops, M.Sc.(Ag.) Thesis, Tamil Nadu Agrl. Univ., Coimbatore-3. Thompson, H.C. and Kelly, W.C. (1983). Vegetable crops 5th edition. Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co. Ltd., New Delhi, 544-564.

(Received: April 2002; Revised: December 2003)

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